One of the most valuable things you can do when you first get started with Frank is spot-check your transactions by type. This brings accuracy to your cash flow reporting, dashboards, and forecasts because Frank will correctly understand what money coming in, money going out, and movement between accounts looks like in your business.
This article walks through the filters on the Transactions page and the recommended spot-check workflow.
Filters on the Transactions Page
When you first visit the Transactions page (Dollar sign icon on your left, down side of the screen), you'll see all of your transactions with no filters applied. Use the filter bar at the top to narrow things down:
Merchant — Group multiple transactions from the same merchant together.
Category — Filter by a specific category from the dropdown (e.g. Insurance, Rent and Facilities).
Department — Filter by department (e.g. Operations, Marketing, Sales).
Click the filter icon in the top-right corner for additional options:
Account — Filter by a specific bank account you've connected to Frank.
Threshold — Set a minimum or maximum transaction size.
Date — Filter by a specific date range.
All Types — Filter by how the transaction affects your business (covered below).
Understanding Transaction Types
Before you start spot-checking, it helps to understand what each transaction type means. Frank uses these types to track the direction of money in your business, which is what powers accurate reporting.
Money coming into the business
Income — Revenue earned by the business. Most incoming transactions fall here.
Shareholders Loan — Funds you, as the business owner, personally transfer into the business that need to be paid back. Catching these prevents them from inflating your revenue or income reports.
Credit Loan or LLC — Funds entering the business as debt — for example, a check written to the business from a line of credit. These need to be paid back and shouldn't be counted as income.
Money leaving the business
Expense — Most outgoing transactions fall here (operating costs, supplies, services, etc.).
Paying Down Debt — Payments toward credit cards, mortgages, lines of credit, and other liabilities. These are not expenses — they're reductions in what you owe.
Owner's Profit Distribution — Money you take out of the business as a profit or distribution, separate from normal payroll. Catching these keeps them out of your operating expense reports.
Movement between accounts
Transfer In — Money moving into an account from another account already owned by the business. Not new money entering the business.
Transfer Out — Money moving out of an account to another account already owned by the business. Not money leaving the business.
How to Spot-Check Your Transactions
From the Transactions page, use the Transaction Type filter and work through each type in turn. Spend a few minutes on each one and look for anything that doesn't belong.
Income — Scroll through and confirm everything here is genuine revenue. If you find an owner contribution, click it and change it to Shareholders Loan. If you find a draw from a line of credit, change it to Credit Loan or LLC. If it was actually a transfer from another business account, change it to Transfer In.
Shareholders Loan — Make sure nothing is here unless it really is an owner contribution.
Credit Loan or LLC — Make sure nothing is here unless it really is debt entering the business.
Expense — This is where you'll usually find the most transactions. Look out for credit card payments, line of credit payments, or mortgage payments that should be re-categorised as Paying Down Debt.
Paying Down Debt — Confirm everything here is a payment toward a liability. Frank often catches these automatically, but it's worth a check.
Owner's Profit Distribution — There may not be anything here, but ask yourself if there should be. Distributions sometimes show up under Transfer Out instead.
Transfer In — Make sure each transaction is genuinely from another business account. If it's actually money entering the business, re-categorise it as Income, Shareholders Loan, or Credit Loan or LLC.
Transfer Out — Make sure each transaction is genuinely a transfer between accounts. If it's actually money leaving the business, re-categorise it as Expense, Paying Down Debt, or Owner's Profit Distribution.
Example: Correcting a Misclassified Transaction
Say you're reviewing Transfer Out and spot an Allstate payment. That's an insurance payment — money leaving the business — so it shouldn't be a transfer. To fix it:
Click the transaction to open its details.
Change the Transaction Type from Transfer Out to Expense.
Leave the Department as Operations and the Category as Insurance.
Tick the box to Create a rule so Frank applies the same correction to similar transactions going forward.
Summary
Filter your transactions by type and work through each one — Income, Shareholders Loan, Credit Loan or LLC, Expense, Paying Down Debt, Owner's Profit Distribution, Transfer In, and Transfer Out.
Correct anything that's in the wrong bucket and create a rule so Frank learns. This one exercise dramatically improves the accuracy of your cash flow reporting, dashboards, and forecasts.